My name is Dave Stancliff. I'm a Vietnam veteran; a retired newspaper editor/publisher, husband and father.
I'm documenting the Great 2020 Pandemic in America with this personal diary for the ages.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Pets continue to die from toxie treats: No one held accountable in sham settlement

Good Day World!

Accountability, or should I say the “lack of accountability” is commonplace when it comes to corporations these days.

They just pay off their accusers and don’t have to worry about standing trial for killing animals. Case in point; pet treats from China have been poisoning American pets for over a decade and there doesn’t seem to be any way to stop it.

If you poisoned a pet, or were falsely accused of doing it, and the case went to court there would be a resolution. You’re either declared innocent, or guilty. If guilty, you can’t pay the judge to rule it’s no one’s fault for what happened. You have to fess up.

But corporations can. They pay millions to lawyers because they know they caused damages, but they don’t want to have to admit their guilty. Does that sound right to you?

Here’s a couple of the latest examples of what I’m talking about:

PET JERKY TREAT DEAL: SIX THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

“No one is admitting fault in a $6.5 million class-action settlement in the legal battle between pet owners who claimed their animals were injured or killed by eating chicken jerky treats made in China and the makers of two of the nation’s big-name brands.

At least one of the two dozen pet owners who sued Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Waggin’ Train LLC said Monday that the agreement is a “bittersweet” victory.

“When Zoe, a 3-year-old pit bull mix, showed up sick last week at a Coral Springs, Fla., animal hospital, veterinarian Sofia Morales said there was no mystery about what was wrong with the dog.

The first clue was that Zoe had all the signs of Fanconi syndrome, a rare and often fatal illness that arises from kidney problems. The second was that she’d been eating jerky pet treats made in China, which have been linked to the disorder.

“Fanconi is so rare, that when you see it, your mind goes, ‘boom,’ the treats,” said Morales, who has treated three dogs with the problem in the past year, far more than one vet should expect.

“I have never seen so much Fanconi in my life. The only common denominator among these dogs is jerky treats," she said. Morales is among thousands of frustrated animal experts and pet owners nationwide who say that if problems with Chinese-made jerky treats are obvious to them, they should be obvious to the Food and Drug Administration, the agency that oversees pet treats, too.

Part of the problem is the treats themselves. Whether they’re made of chicken, duck or sweet potatoes, the nuggets, jerky and tenders are hard and stiff and difficult to break down in solvents for chemical analysis.

Another issue is that there are few validated tests sensitive enough to detect some contaminants.

In January, New York state agriculture officials used tests that found trace amounts of unapproved antibiotics in the treats, a discovery that forced the biggest makers of jerky treats, Nestle Purina Pet Care Corp. and Del Monte Corp., to issue voluntary recalls that pulled the bulk of the products off store shelves nationwide.”